Trade deal with European Union faces big challenges, Iowa farmers say

CEDAR RAPIDS - Differences between the United States and the European Union over how to produce grain and livestock could doom a proposed free trade deal, according to state and national agriculture leaders.

'We expect difficult negotiations. We are for increased trade, but we won't be willing to give up some of the things they are asking,” said Dysart farmer John Weber, president-elect of the National Pork Producers Association.

'This is never going to happen,” Iowa Soybean Association CEO Kirk Leeds said.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack recently said European opposition to genetically modified crops and U.S. meat production techniques could scuttle the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, which, if successfully concluded, would encompass a third of world trade and nearly half the planet's gross domestic product.

The widespread use of growth hormones in U.S. beef production, which clashes with the European Union's ban on hormone-treated meat, will be among the hardest issues to resolve, Vilsack said.

While some members of the Iowa Cattlemen's Association produce beef without growth hormones, the substantial majority of producers who use the hormones would be unlikely to give up the practice, according to Justine Stevenson, the group's director of government relations.

Weber, who markets 14,000 hogs a year on three farms near Dysart, said most of the trade deal's hot button issues affect Iowa farmers.

One 'front and center” issue, he said, is the widespread acceptance in the United States of genetically modified crops, which compares with Europe's strict regulation and limited use.

Europeans also are much less tolerant of the industrialized meat production techniques prevalent in the United States, he said.

'A lot of our techniques have made us extremely efficient while reducing our environmental footprint,” Weber said. European animal welfare and building density standards have made their industry non-competitive, he said.

'Why would we want to negotiate away our competitive advantages?” he said.

The United States, the world's largest food exporter, and the European Union, the world's largest importer of agricultural products and food, have been engaged for more than two years in negotiations to conclude a comprehensive, trans-Atlantic free trade agreement.

Despite the European Union's growing demand for food, the U.S. market share is shrinking, with growth constrained by tariffs and other trade barriers, which the USDA calls unjustified.

The Soybean Association's Leeds said he recently returned from meetings in Europe that convinced him 'it won't happen unless the United States caves in on production and protection issues.”

'Why would we do that? We're not going to give up our competitive advantages for a non-growing market,” he added.

Leeds said both political parties would oppose such a deal.

Dave Miller, director of research and commodity services for the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, said the organization is optimistic that an agreement will eventually be reached.

Acknowledging that 'many thorny issues” have to be resolved, Miller said he thinks an agreement can be reached in two to three years.

'I'm not sure we have to give up our production methodology. Can't we agree that each system has good food safety and recognize that our systems don't have to be the same?” Miller said.

'We want access for our products and then let the consumers decide if they want to buy them.”

Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey said it will take some 'heavy lifting” to reach an agreement.

'It makes sense to have the conversations and maybe get a half bite if we can't get the whole bite,” he said.

Al Wulfekuhle of Quasqueton, president-elect of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, said U.S. farmers raise livestock under 'a science and research-based system” that yields 'the world's safest meat supply.”

Europeans want U.S. farmers to adopt the same 'feel good” rules that raise their costs of production, said Wulfekuhle, who raises 40,000 hogs from farrow to finish each year.

Mark Heckman, Iowa Corn Promotion Board president, said negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade pact among the United States and 11 other Pacific rim nations, holds more promise for Iowa farmers.

'Our cost of production is less than that of our European counterparts. They want us to give up our competitive advantage and do things their way,” said Heckman, who farms in Muscatine County.

Negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership began in June 2013. The deadline for an agreement had been penciled in for sometime this year.